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William Andre Elfer 



PRICE, SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS 

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Glass 
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Copyright N^. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



FOR THEIR FUR 



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BY 

William Andre Elfek 



FOR SALE BY THE 

GESSNER CO.. 

611 CANAL ST., NEW ORLEANS, LA. 






COPYRIGHTED 
BY 
W. A. EL FE R 
1 909 



r' 1 246165 
SEP f 7909 



Press of J. G. Hauser 

"The Legal Printer" 

620-622 Poydras St. 

New Orleans 






PREFACE 



^ HIS little volume is issued in il- 

lustration of the feasibility of 

breeding minks in Louisiana for 
their fur. It is the result of experi- 
ments conducted by the author himself, 
and he feels that it should be of interest 
to many and of value to the few who 
are looking for fields for profitable in- 
vestment. It IS the authorfs aim to 
issue a more elaborate work oh the same 
subject sometime during the early part 
of next year. W. A. h. 



i 




A Louisiana Mink. Notice the Small Eyes, and the 
Rounded Ears, Scarcely Projecting Beyond 
the Adjacent Fur. 



jOW, 



M 



OR the following description of 
the American mink I am in- 
debted to the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica: 

" In size it much resembles the EngHsh 
polecat — the length of the head and body being 
usually from fifteen to eighteen inches ; that of 
the tail to the end of the hair about nine inches. 
The female is considerably smaller than the 
male. The tail is bushy, but tapering at the 
end. The ears are small, low, rounded, and 
scarcely project beyond the adjacent fur. The 
pelage consists of a dense, soft, matted under- 
fur, mixed with long, stiff, lustrous hairs on all 
parts of the body and tail. The gloss is great- 
est on the upper parts; on the tail the bristly 
hairs predominate. Northern specimens have 
the finest and most glistening pelage ; in those 

page seven 



from the southern regions there is less differ- 
ence between the under- and over-fur, and the 
whole pelage is coarser and harsher. In color, 
different specimens present a considerable 
range of variation, but the animal is ordinarily 
of a rich, dark brown, scarcely or not paler be- 
low than on the general upper parts ; but the 
back is usually the darkest, and the tail is near- 
ly black. The under jaw, from the chin about 
as far back as the angle of the mouth, is gener- 
ally white. In the European mink the upper 
Hp is also white, but, as this occasionally occurs 
in American specimens, it fails as an absolutely 
distinguishing character. Besides the white on 
the chin, there are often other irregular white 
patches on the under parts of the body. In very 
rare instances the tail is tipped with white. The 
fur, like that of most of the animals of the group to 
which it belongs, is an important article of 
commerce. 



page eight 



^^ HE fur market has always been a 

good market. It has grown 

firmer and stronger from year to 
year, while the prices for furs have been 
advancing steadily and rapidly with the 
growing demand for furs in Europe and 
America, and with the general increas- 
ing scarcity of all fur-bearing animals. 
Mink fur advanced about fifty per cent, 
during the last two seasons, and there is 
every reason to believe that the mink 
fur in Louisiana will advance to about 
six dollars within the coming three 
years. The minks caught in Louisiana 
last season were sold at an average 
price of three dollars. 



page nine 




Resting in a Warm Place. Notice the Long Body and Its Shape. 



Jff UR-BEARING animals are be- 

coming scarce where they were 

once so plentiful, and, like the 
buffaloes that roamed this country in 
such great numbers, they will soon, 
many of them, become extinct if 
the present rate of trapping con- 
tinues to obtam m America. Already 
certain fur animals are almost trapped 
out and are rare. Even the alligator, 
which was so plentiful a few years ago 
in the swamps of Louisiana, is hardly 
sought after any more for its hide be- 
cause of its scarcity. 

The laws enacted by the various 
State legislatures for the protection of 

page th irteen 




In a Position to .lump. Notice the Long Tail. 



fur-bearing animals, in fact, offer no pro- 
tection ; for most furs caught out of sea- 
son have no market value, and for that 
reason are not caught. 

In Louisiana a trapper has to procure 
a hunting license if he wishes to carry a 
gun while trapping, which license costs 
only one dollar and is good for one sea- 
son only. Such a low license, while it 
may bring a large revenue to the State, 
clearly has no element of protection m 
it. On the contrary, it is a truth that it 
stimulates both hunting and trapping, as 
there were more trappers in Louisiana 
last season than before the law requiring 
this license came into effect. Every 
trapper procures a hunting license whe- 
ther he carries a gun or not, and most 



page seventeen 



trappers believe the law requires them 
to have this Hcense to trap. 

Whatever is being done for the 
protection of fur-bearing animals in 
Louisiana, the fact remains that they 
are fast disappearing. Old and expe- 
rienced trappers w^ill tell you that minks 
w^ere very difficult to trap last season as 
compared w^ith the seasons of a few^ 
years ago, when they could be so easily 
trapped in dead-falls. Raccoons, too, 
which were so numerous in the rear of 
old cornfields during the trapping sea- 
sons, have diminished at a surprising 
rate within the last three years. 

While laws are being adopted by 
different States for the regulation of 
trapping to protect fur-bearing animals, 



page eighteen 




A Female of Two Years. 



it is time for those who expect to make 
money with fur in the future to begin 
raising their own animals. The time is 
almost here when trapping will be 
unprofitable. Fur animals will be too 
scarce to make anythmg at it. Then 
people will have to build farms in which 
to breed minks for their fur, and mink 
farms will become common. Minks are 
the most valuable fur-bearing animals in 
Louisiana, being the most numerous, and 
they are also the easiest and most profit- 
able to breed for their fur. 

Breeding minks in Louisiana for 
their fur can be made a very profitable 
industry. There is more to be made at 
it than raising horses, hogs or cattle. 
After a farm is once completed and 



page twenty-one 



stocked, all expense is about over if 
there is a large-enough pond in it to 
supply the minks with sufficient food. 
Under the present condition of the fur 
market, each female will average a profit 
of forty dollars a year. A farm stocked 
for the first time during the winter with 
five hundred female minks should bring 
its owner the following winter approxi- 
mately twenty thousand dollars. This 
is figured at three dollars a fur ; but 
within three years the mink fur in 
Louisiana should be selling for what 
the mink fur in the North sold last 
season. With this increase in the price 
of fur, a farm stocked with the same 
number should bring forty thousand 
dollars. 

page twenty-two 




The Fur During the Summer Is Very Poor, and Not So Dark as It 
Is During the Winter. 



Minks require little room, and 
thousands can be raised each vear on 
a farm of ten acres. The larger the 
farm, however, the better chances they 
will have to procure food for themselves, 
as birds will enter a large farm more 
freely than a small one. 

For this reason, in building a mink 
farm the first and most important require- 
ment is a good location. A small island 
consisting of low land covered with trees 
and grasses, with the opposite shore at 
least three-quarters of a mile distant, 
would make an excellent farm, provided 
the surrounding water supplies an abun- 
dance of small fishes. Such an island 
would, of course, preclude the necessity 
of using material for holding the minks 



page twenty-five 




An Excited Mink Trying to Climb. 



in captivity. If a suitable island cannot 
be found, a good farm can be made 
with five or more acres of low^ sw^ampy 
land having a natural grow^th of trees, 
grasses and underbrush, such as can be 
found in Southern Louisiana. But the 
piece of land selected for a farm must 
inclose a large pond, or several small 
ponds, containing a good quantity of 
small fishes, especially crayfish. The 
trees and grasses will attract birds, 
which, in addition to fish and rabbits, 
form a large part of food for the 
minks. 

Feeding minks is pretty costly, and 
is hardly to be considered by one enter- 
ing the business of breeding them for 
their fur. 



page twenty-nine 



The walls surrounding a mink farm 
can be made either with bricks or with 
sheets of corrugated, galvanized iron. 
The latter material makes an excellent 
wall, and costs less than a brick wall. 
It should be used m sheets measuring 
twelve feet in length by about twenty- 
six inches m width. These sheets 
should be used in an upright position, 
and at least five feet should be under- 
ground and seven feet aboveground. 
They should be allowed to lap two 
inches, and the dirt should be firmly 
packed against them. Two rows of 
wooden strips nailed on the outside of 
the wall, one about two feet above the 
ground, and the other along the top 
edge of the sheets, will greatly strengthen 



page thirty 




A Young Female Mink Walking Along the Walls of a 
Small Farm. 



the wall and also prevent the wind from 
shaking it. 

The following photograph shows a 
small pentagonal farm, the walls of 
which are made with sheets of corru- 
gated, galvanized iron. Each side 
measures sixteen feet in length, extend- 
ing four feet underground and four feet 
aboveground. Wire netting is used to 
cover the farm, not to prevent the minks 
from jumping over, although the walls 
are too low, but to prevent chickens, 
cats and buzzards from entering and eat- 
ing the food put in for the minks. A 
wooden shed also covers a part of the 
small farm and serves to keep out some 
of the rain and heat, there being no 
shrubs or trees therein. There are two 



page thirty-three 




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small troughs in the ground for holding 
water, and in the center of the farm 
there is a place for the minks to live 
during the day, which consists of boards 
laid five inches above the surface of the 
ground with about fourteen inches of 
dirt on top. Under these boards it is 
dark during the day and always damp 
and cool. There are also several bar- 
rels in this farm filled with corn shucks 
and hay for the minks to enter during 
cold weather. The minks in this little 
farm are fed with the spleen of cattle, 
different meats, crayfish and other small 
fishes. The cost of this farm, or pen, 
which has been used for experimental 
purposes only, amounts to approxi- 
mately forty-two dollars. It is large 



page thirty-seven 



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enough to raise two hundred minks if 
they are properly fed and cared for. 

Sometimes an island can be used 
for a farm even when it has opposite 
shores or islands within two hundred 
feet or less, provided the water surround- 
ing it has an average depth of from four 
to six feet. In such a case, the walls 
inclosmg the island should be built in 
the water at a distance of fifty or one 
hundred feet from its shores. Sheets of 
metal should be used, as previously 
described, by placing them upright in 
the water and nailing them together 
with strips running along the outside. 
It is not essential that the lower wall 
should be in the ground or even touch- 
ing it ; posts can be driven in the ground 



page forty-one 




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A Mink Farm Made Out of an Island. The Water Surrounding He 
a Uniform Depth of Five Feet. 



to strengthen the wall, or to support it 
entirely. 

In a small farm where minks are in 
close captivity and have to be fed, the 
old ones used for the purpose of stocking 
it will at first do considerable digging 
near the walls. They will dig into 
loose earth to a depth ranging from a 
few inches to three feet in their attempts 
to liberate themselves. But they will 
cease to dig after they have been in 
captivity for about four months. Those 
born in a farm will not dig or try to get 
out. They will climb, however, to a 
height of fifteen feet on reclining trees 
or on bushes, and for this reason all 
trees, bushes and pieces of lumber should 
be removed from the inside of the walls 



page forty-five 




Disturbed in Her Sleep. Notice the Bushy Tail. 



before any minks are turned loose in a 
farm. They will ordinarily jump to a 
height of four feet. They can climb 
wooden walls as swiftly as a cat, or any 
wall made of soft material. 

The following sketch shows the very 
best mink farm that can be made. It 
requires a rectangular piece of land of 
five or ten acres, running along and 
separated by a large bayou in the 
swamps of Louisiana. Covering this 
land there should be the necessary 
trees, shrubbery and grasses. The walls 
are built along the bayou about one 
hundred feet from the middle, and 
extend underground to a depth of six 
feet. The walls at the ends of the 
farm where they cross the bayou should 



page forty-n ine 






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A Mink Farm Inclosing Portion of a Bayou, Allowing the 
Water to Flow Through. 



be very carefully constructed. At these 
places where the walls cross the bayou 
should have a depth of at least twelve 
feet or more, so that the walls can be 
made to extend nine feet below the 
water surface for one-third the width of 
the stream and still have sufficient open- 
ings below the walls to permit the water 
to flow through freely. For example, 
if the bayou is fifty feet wide, fifteen 
feet of the wall crossing it can be ele- 
vated so that there will be a large- 
enough opening below for the water to 
flow. The remaining portion of the 
wall (that lying near the shore) should 
be driven in the ground for about one 
foot, as minks will not dig under water. 
A farm of five acres, similar to the one 



page fifty-three 



just described, would cost, completed, 
approximately eight hundred dollars. 
The minks in such a farm, owing to the 
continuous change of water in the bayou, 
would always have an abundance of 
food. The banks of the bayou would 
afford a natural breeding-place, as minks 
usually burrow in the banks of small 
streams or along canals and have their 
young near the water. If the water in 
the bayou falls, wire netting could be 
used over the opening at the ends below 
the walls. 

" Minks eat birds, small mammals and eggs. 
The principal food oi minks comes from water, 
fish, frogs, crayfish." — International Encyclo- 
poedia. 



page fifty-fou p 




An Angry Mink. 



The minks I have been experiment- 
ing with have persistently refused to eat 
frogs. I penned one up separately and 
attempted to feed her on frogs only, and 
I believe she w^ould have starved rather 
than eat frogs. 

Minks can be raised in any kind of 
pen or cage, and water is not essential 
to their happiness, They are easily 
tamed and like to be petted. 



page fifty-seven 



fcbits of t\u Mink in 



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E0msmita 




INKS in Louisiana have two 
litters a season, the number of 
young in each brood varying from four 
to eight. Sometimes, however, but very 
rarely, there will be only two in a brood, 
and almost as infrequently, on the other 

hand, there will be three litters a season 
instead of two. Captive animals breed 
more profusely than the wild, and will 
occasionally have three litters where 
they are in close captivity. They begin 
to breed when they are about one year 



page fifty-n ine 



old, and in captivity will raise an aver- 
age of fourteen a year. Normally, they 
live to be about nine years old, but they 
will live longer in captivity where they 
are well treated and given all the water 
and the different foods required by 
them. 

Like all other industries, the busi- 
ness of breeding minks for their fur 
necessitates an outlay of capital. A 
farm cannot be built without money, 
and the cost of one sufficiently large to 
breed minks profitably ranges from five 
hundred to a thousand dollars. Of 
course, a farm can be made any size and 
costing any amount of money ; but large 
farms are not necessary, and it is much 

page sixty 




A Female Mink Resting With Eyes Open. 



better to have several small farms of six 
or ten acres than one very large one. 

After a farm is completed it has to 
be stocked, and the task is no easy or 
inexpensive one. Trappers will have to 
be employed to trap minks with No. I 
steel traps, as these small traps do not 
injure them very much unless they are 
permitted to remain caught too long. 
Those that have badly-broken bones 
should not be bought, as suffering will 
cause them to eat their leg off, in which 
case they will always die. 

The author intends to organize a 
company styled the "Louisiana Mink 
Company," the objects and purposes of 
which shall be to build mink farms and 
to breed minks in this State for their fur. 



page sixty-th ree 



No matter what capital is involved, 
or expense incurred, in entering into the 
business of breeding minks for their fur, 
the returns vs^ill be so big that this w^ill 
appear small in comparison. And those 
who are so fortunate as to start in the 
industry now will, when minks will have 
become so rare that trapping will be un- 
profitable, and the demand so great that 
the prices for mink fur will soar higher 
and higher — those persons, I say, of fore- 
sight, who had the good fortune to start 
in the business early, will reap each year 
the steady advances in the price of mink 
fur, and be able, in a word, to command 
the fur market of both Europe and 
America. 



page sixty-four 



^^ 



